My Two Cents (Book Review): STUCK TO A MONSTER by Ross Killey

I've been meaning to read "Stuck to A Monster" by Ross Killey since the first time I saw its amazing cover by Christy Aldridge. Talk about eye catching! Finally got around to it over the past week, and I have to say the art fits the story's irreverent dark humor to an absolute T.

"Stuck to A Monster" introduces readers to Isaac and Luke Foster, brothers who share a razor-sharp wit, a love of vintage horror cinema, and Taco Bell. As conjoined twins, they also happen to share a body. The two have never let this stand in their way, and live a relatively normal life co-hosting a horror podcast with their best friend Joshua, working part-time at their sleazy uncle Chip's comic book shop, and lusting after the mysterious and beautiful Alma. Life may not be perfect for the Foster twins, but it's comfortable and predictable, at least until one night when they're chased through the woods by what they think is a bear. Once it scratches them, however, it's only a matter of time before they discover that it was something much worse. Soon, Isaac and Luke find themselves in the middle of a storyline straight out of their favorite horror movies: they're a werewolf.

Or at least, Luke is. And this, dear reader, is where the "Stuck to A Monster" title comes into play. While Luke wolfs out by moonlight each night, Isaac remains human, and is dragged along for whatever misadventures Luke can find, be it chasing a stray cat around or tearing a group of rival podcasters to bloody ribbons.

Luke has no memory of these events, but Isaac is forced to bear witness to them all. Slowly but surely, he realizes he can exert some semblance of control over Luke's lupine form, given it's his body, too. And slowly but surely, they discover that being half-monster isn't always half-bad.

There's a lot of black humor in "Stuck to A Monster," and plenty of nods to obscure and classic horror movies. Killey knows his stuff, and peppers his familiarity with long-lost pop cultural references throughout the novel, a kind of wink and nudge toward the films and TV shows that obviously inspired his story.

There's a lot of blood in here, too, and it works best when it doesn't take itself too seriously and goes over-the-top, not in an extreme horror sense, but rather, a campy, "Evil Dead" fashion.

The characters are fabulous, especially the Foster brothers. As conjoined twins, they share a lot more in common than just a body, but Killey also makes sure we realize each is his own individual, with his own personality, ambitions, and desires. Luke and Isaac have mixed and often conflicting feelings about being a werewolf, and as their relationship with Alma transitions from friendship to something more, how they feel about her. How they come to terms with these, and each other, is the crux of the story.

As the boys' sidekick and co-host, Joshua provides a lot of comic relief, especially after he stumbles across a would-be werewolf hunter who's such an idiot, he poses more danger to himself than to either Luke or Isaac. Other secondary characters rounding out the cast include the aforementioned sleazebag uncle and rival podcaster, and a washed-up B-movie actor the boys manage to finagle into an ill-fated interview.

At almost 400 pages, "Stuck to A Monster" is a long read, and while Killey's writing is engaging, his dialogue funny and clever, that's still a whole lot of story, and the pacing gets bogged down in spots because of it. There are places where he also switches tacks, going from the humor to darker tones, and I felt the story would have worked better without those shifts.

Overall, "Stuck to A Monster" was a fun, quirky, and original read. It's hard to find a fresh spin on werewolf stories, but Killey hits it out of the park. If this one isn't on your TBR list, it needs to be.

"Stuck to A Monster" is available here.